Hammad Azhar's mother moves LHC for his recovery amid reports of arrest

LAHORE: The mother of Hammad Azhar on Monday filed a habeas corpus petition in the Lahore High Court (LHC) seeking recovery of of the PTI leader from alleged police custody.

A day earlier, PTI claimed that Azhar been arrested. While Multan and Lahore police officials said they were unaware of his arrest, party sources claimed the PTI leader was taken into custody in a case pertaining to the May 9, 2023 riots.

Monday’s petition was filed by Azhar’s mother, Ishrat Azhar, through Barrister Abuzar Salman Niazi. It named the Punjab inspector general of police (IGP), the Lahore capital city police officer (CCPO), the Lahore deputy inspector general (operations), and the RA Bazaar station house officer (South Cantt) as respondents.

The petition alleged that Azhar was arrested two days ago, but his family had no information about his whereabouts. It expressed concerns about his safety and maintained that no person could be kept in illegal detention.

The petition requested the LHC to direct the respondents to produce Azhar before the court or any competent court and disclose the complete and lawful basis of his arrest and detention.

The petition also sought immediate access for Azhar to his legal counsel and reasonable communication with his family members in accordance with law.

The petition asked the court to declare any detention of Azhar that was not in accordance with the Constitution and law as unlawful and without lawful authority.

Azhar, who is the son of late former Punjab governor Mian Muhammad Azhar, was wanted by Lahore police in connection with a case regarding an attack on the Govt Officers’ Residences (GOR-I) gate on May 9, 2023.

He has been declared a proclaimed offender by multiple anti-terrorism courts for not joining the proceedings against him in cases related to the May 9 riots.

Reports of Azhar’s arrest circulated widely on social media over the weekend, with different accounts emerging about where and when he was taken into custody.

According to some reports circulating online on Sunday, the PTI leader was handed over to Lahore police. However, Lahore Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Investigations Muhammad Naveed said he had no confirmation about Azhar’s arrest or handover to Lahore police.

In a statement on Sunday, the PTI had termed the former finance minister’s arrest “the worst example of political vengeance and fascism”.

“Hammad Azhar is being continuously targeted with retaliatory actions on political grounds. The government is recklessly using state power to suppress political opponents and silence the voice of PTI,” it alleged.

Azhar had reappeared in public on May 22, 2024, a year after he had gone into hiding when the state launched a crackdown against the party leadership following the violent incidents of May 9. At the time, the PTI leader had evaded arrest when the Counter-Terrorism Department raided the party’s secretariat in Islamabad.

In April 2025, Azhar had stepped down as the president of the party’s Punjab chapter for the third time, after his two previous resignations were rejected.